Complete Humorous Plays of J. M. Synge

An Irish playwright, poet, prose writer, travel writer and collector of folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish Literary Revival and was one of the co-founders of the Abbey Theatre. He is best known for his play The Playboy of the Western World, which caused riots in Dublin during its opening run at the Abbey Theatre.

Contents
In Wicklow and West Kerry (1912)
The Well of the Saints: A Comedy in Three Acts (1905)
The Aran Islands (1911)
Deirdre of the Sorrows (1909)
In the Shadow of the Glen (1904)
Riders to the Sea (1904)
The Playboy of the Western World: A Comedy in Three Acts (1907)
Tinker's Wedding

The Aran Islands (1911)-
This book records the experience of several lengthy visits paid by the author to Inishmaan and Aranmor, the chief islands of the Aran group. He gives an intimate account of the general manner of life on these islands, so isolated from civilisation, where the life is in some ways the most primitive that is left in Western Europe.
Deirdre of the Sorrows (1909)-
Based on the Old Irish story Longes mac nUislenn, ‘The Exile of the Sons of Usna’, from the 12th century Book of Leinster.
The Playboy of the Western World: A Comedy in Three Acts (1907)-
Set in a cottage on the North-West coast of Ireland during the early 1900s the play tells the story of Christy Mahon, a young man supposedly running away having killed his father. Following Christy's arrival at the cottage the locals are more interested in vicariously enjoying his story than in condemning his morality. When The Playboy first opened in Dublin it was the cause of riots as Catholic protesters voiced their objections to the portrayal of rural Irish Catholic morality.